Tour of Turkey 2014 - Stage 4

The 2014 Tour of Turkey continued today with its fourth stage. The race was 124.2 kilometres long from Fethiye to Marmaris, and although there was a category one climb early on the likelihood was the race was going to be decided by a sprint finish. Mark Cavendish, now the points leader, was the favourite for the race, with Theo Bos and Elia Viviani being the main challengers.

A breakaway went clear in the first twenty kilometres of racing, Maxim Belkov, a Giro d'Italia stage winner and rider for Katusha, was joined by Luis Mas of Caja Rural, Adam Phelan of Drapac, Frederik Backaert of Wanty Groupe-Gobert and Andrea Fedi of Neri Sottoli. The break was more hopeful than purposeful, it was likely the peloton would never let a group contest a certain sprint.

Drama occurred on the descent of the category one climb, as rain had made the roads too slippery, causing twenty men or so to crash. The peloton stopped in protest, and Andre Greipel threatened to abandon after crashing. The organisers decided to neutralise the racing until the race was safe, with the riders agreeing to race on as long as the roads dried.

They did so, and the peloton settled down to chase down the breakaway. There was a tough climb near the finish that looked like it could be the launchpad for a race winning attack, but Omega Pharma-Quickstep controlled the race and took control of the final lead out for their man Mark Cavendish. They say practise makes perfect, and the practise Omega Pharma-Quickstep had put into their lead out worked out.

Cavendish was given a text book lead out so he coasted to victory infront of Max Richeze of Lampre-Merida. The lead out was so good Mark Renshaw finished third. Rein Taaramae, the race leader, stayed safe during the stage, he only has four more days to defend his lead from the likes of Adam Yates and Merhawi Kudus. For Mark Cavendish, it's three wins in four days, an impressive record.